West Michigan Murder Victim Identified After 31 Years
The DNA Doe Project was able to identify a murder victim left along I-196 near Covert. Now police are helping her name will help bring clues.
Until this week, she was know simply as 'I-196 Jane', a woman found along the freeway in Van Buren County in 1988.
Now, she has a name and an identity: Marcia Kaylynn Bateman of Oklahoma.
The Paw Paw post of the Michigan State Police worked with BODE Laboratories and used genealogy DNA to possibly identify her.
In August of this year, they got a hit, and she was positively identified via the DNA Doe Project.
Bateman was reported missing in Oklahoma in May of 1988. It is not know whether Bateman died where her body was found, or if she was moved there. Her body had no clothing on or near it, further hampering initial attempts to identify her.
According to MLive.com, State Police at the Paw Paw post will hold a press conference on Monday to tell more about the effort to identify the body and the information they have on the case.
Police asked anyone with information to call 844-642-8384 or email MSP-51TIPS@michigan.gov